Ana over at Bluebird Kisses featured The Wild on her Small Business thursday series! I'm SO honoured! Take a look for more behind the scenes pics and a little interview.
As she mentions in her post, she and I will be working together to host a BIG giveaway to celebrate the launch of The Wild. Stay tuned, and make sure you are following us both on Instagram (Ana and me)
Ana has been a huge supporter of not only my business venture but other small business owners out there. She is so encouraging and always wants to help spread the word, she's truly a selfless, amazing person and I am one of her absolute biggest fans. OH! And she's going to be opening her very own shop soon, Rufus + Murdog, which will feature an amazing collection of cool finds for babies and kids (including us of course!) so follow along with the shop here. (Side note - guess who illustrated the dogs in her logo? Three guesses...)
One of the many lovely people that I met at BlogPodium was Jules, who writes Life of a Cupcake, a sweet blog about all things that make her happy. It's so fresh and fun to read!! Her recent post about her four year anniversary totally melted my heart. Oh, and she's a Beatles fan, so I like her even more...
Today I'm guest posting over at Life of a Cupcake, and have shared a recipe for Strawberry Peach Crisp, and a free printable! Pop on over to Jules' blog and say hello!
As you may already know from a previous post, my friend Sara over at Saige Wisdom is all about the obsession lists, as am I, so I feel an intense urge to participate whenever she does these. I really, really like to window (read: internet) shop and make myself feel bad about everything that I want but feel guilty about spending money on. Here goes. I'm dubbing this the 'things I want in my house right now' edition.
An Eames rocking chair. All the cool bloggers have one. Why can't I?
Our basement couch is over a decade old, and it's basically Cohen's bed. I vacuum it every time I sit on it. And I'd kind of rather sit on the floor. In my dream world, Cohen stops shedding and I buy this couch.
Also in my dream world with my dream basement couch is this dream pillow by Fine Little Day. Love.
Yes, I know, everyone's sick to death of all the ampersand business, but I love this one, or any letter, by Hindsvik. So cool.
I have wanted the Ikea Stockholm rug for a longgg time. I NEED IT. I don't understand why rugs are as expensive as they are, but one day I will buy this. For real.
I wrap things up with not an item, but rather my dream art studio. I wish we lived in a mansion with all sorts of extra rooms that I could turn into things (studio, dressing room, room to throw toys in). Sigh. Stupid average size house.
Ok, that's my current list of obsessions for our home. What are yours?
Hurray, my very first 'Five Questions' post! I will be posting one of these each week for the next little while, and I'm so excited to share them with you. The idea behind this is to get a little glimpse into the lives of my (and probably your) favourite bloggers, what they do each day, how they find time for themselves, that sort of thing. And if some of these bloggers are new to you, then you'll hopefully get some new favourites.
First up, the lovely Jennifer of A Merry Mishap! I've mentioned Jennifer on the blog before, and you may already be familiar with her. I've been a big fan of her blog for years now. If you're not already an avid reader of her blog, you should be. Check her out.
And you MUST visit her shop. Her
jewelry designs are amazinggg.
I was so excited when Jennifer agreed to participate in my new series. She's pretty busy after all with the blog, shop, and her family....but she was gracious enough to help me out!
Ok, let's get to the questions!
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What do you like most about writing A Merry Mishap?
One of the things I enjoy most about writing AMM is the opportunity to share and do creative things that I might not otherwise do. It's great motivation to finish a project or to find something new to share when I know it's not just for me. There's something about writing a blog that is much like building, you are constantly curating and gathering a collection of things and experiences that are unique to you, I like that.
Where do you see you/your blog/your shop in the next few years?
There are many visions I have for the blog and for my shop as well. Some of them may never come to fruition but I would like to teach more with the blog. I've always enjoyed hosting dinner and parties but I haven't used my blog to share that love, and part of me would like to see more how-to's as far as planning a meal or party. I also try to remind myself to share as many of my own images as possible. Our life is sometimes mundane, but at least it's ours and I feel like it's the most unique thing I can offer my readers. I want to share something that is real and genuine because that is something I appreciate from other bloggers.
How do you find time just for YOU?
Finding time for myself is a real challenge but I'm learning that it won't look the way it did when I was single or before becoming a mom. It is little things like sitting on the couch with a magazine. It sounds so simple but I'm usually in my studio or picking up the house, I rarely just sit on the sofa. It's a real mental thing, I have to tell myself I'm going to walk away from my emails and shop and business responsibilities and just do something I like doing, for no other reason than that. Some days it is going to bed early or getting to the store by myself. My husband is a huge help and if I ever need time alone he always helps give me that time.
What’s a typical day in your busy life like?
My typical day means getting up by 7 am, answering as many emails as possible, checking invoices to see what I need to make that day, making breakfast for my son and getting him dressed. I try to eat something quick too or I'll go without until about 5:30. My husband works very early so he gets home around noon at which point I head back to my work desk and make jewelry for a few hours. At about 3:30 I start packaging and printing shipping labels, marking invoices to get orders to the post office by 4:30. I clean up my work area a bit and this is when I will head out to the grocery store, the bank, things like that. After that, I make dinner for my son and my husband puts him to bed while I get caught up on more emails and write to-do lists for the next day. The evening is when I get blogging projects done and often I go to bed well after my husband does, about 1 or 2 am. It's just about like that, more or less, every day of the week.
Do you have any advice for someone who wants to start a blog/business?
I would tell anyone who wants to start blogging to dive in! It's good to experiment plenty until you find your style and what works best for you. Please try to offer something unique, something that people can connect with and want to come back to, think about the kinds of blogs you like to read and why you continue to go back to them. Also, network. This is an area I am weak in but I do try to work with other people, bloggers, designers or store owners. Mostly I would encourage people to be honest with themselves about their strengths, if you're not a great photographer or graphic designer, don't feel bad, you might be a great curator or an eloquent writer, work with what you've got!
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A HUGE thank you to Jennifer for sharing so much with us, and for being so sweet! Now I don't feel so bad knowing that I'm not the only Mom/blogger/shop owner getting 5ish hours of sleep, ha ha!
Next week I'll share another Five Questions from another favourite blogger! Hope you all like this series!
Starting tomorrow I am going to post a new series once a week called Five Questions. I've asked some of my all time favourite bloggers to participate and answer five quick questions, and I'm already getting some amazing responses. So far I've learned that people are awesome, in general.
I'm still in the process of contacting people, so you may hear from me! And if you would like to participate, drop me a line.
Tomorrow will be the first post, and I'm going to start with Jennifer of A Merry Mishap! Check back tomorrow for her mini-interview!
This week has been BUSY. Busy planning, making lists, getting things ready for some projects I am working on (I know, so cryptic, I'll share soon!).
I've also been really busy getting into the blogs of the people I met at Blog Podium. I have to say, even if I hadn't learned SO much from BP, I came away with new friends, and new blog obsessions. These blogs are ah-mazing.
Lauren, oh how I love you. Lauren's blog, The Wee Lass, is the epitome of cool. She writes about style, food, and I LOVE her playlists. She also had on the cutest outfit at BP, so I instantly adored her. And shares my love for Stefon. LOVE HER.
So Brian might be the cutest thing in the world. His blog, The Duke of Design, covers fashion, interior design, and my personal fav, his section called 'DIY-with-Bri'. Oh, and he's HILARIOUS. I don't know about you, but I love it when I'm reading a blog and I can hear the person talking to me. You know what I mean? That's how Brian writes. LOVE IT. I hope he writes The Duke of Design forever and ever. And I hope he gets a book deal. And a reality show.
Meagan is a total interior design blogger inspiration. You may remember her from my most recent A & B Love list, but if not, check her out. Not only is her blog fab, but she won the Para Paint Blog Crew contest! She's part of a blog CREW you guys. I mean, she's the coolest.
And, of course, my love, Rachel, of Paper Hearts. For those of you who don't know, Rach is not my blogger friend...she's my real life friend. She was my Maid of Honour at my wedding, and I love her to bits. She's probably the best cook in the world, so be sure to check out her insanely delish recipes (try the no-bake oreo cheesecake, I may or may not have gained five pounds from eating the leftovers of this from Ben's birthday).
That's all for now kids! Add these guys to your blog list. Follow them in twitter/facebook/instagram. They're about to take the blog world by STORM.
(P.S. Hey, did you enter the ADOP custom painting contest yet? I know, you're sick of hearing about it. It could be worse, I could be tweeting this every five seconds. I feel like I'm being pretty subtle. No?)
